


Our Secret

by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar)



Series: Imagine Tony & Bucky [23]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Brooklyn Accents Get Tony Hot, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky Hates The Cold, Kissing, M/M, Not Just A Sex Thing, Secret Relationship, Sneaking Into Closets, Snowed In, Steve Rogers Is A Good Blanket, Tony Hates Caves, Tony Stark Has A Boner, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 12:31:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3729028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaqen_hgar/pseuds/Finely%20Honed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <span class="small">Imagine Tony and Bucky being caught in a snowstorm and having to shelter in a cave, maybe because Steve's injured, and the two of them have never worked together before, but work perfectly together in a crisis. Only when they get back they're all awkward around each other and Steve wants to slam their heads together. Bonus for Tony being less than pleased about the form of shelter they have to take, but gritting his teeth and trying to be ok with it and bucky noticing AND Have we had the obligatory snowed in plot with these two yet? In honor of all of this month’s snow, imagine Bucky and Tony are snowed in somewhere. AND So Bucky’s arm is made of metal and sucks heat the way you’d expect, this can be uncomfortable to painful for Buck, depending on the temp. Also can make cuddling necessary but cold. Tony makes some kind of arm warmer. Bonus if Bucky has a conditioned fear response to people working on his arm. AND When Bucky gets really angry his Brooklyn accent comes out. Tony finds this extremely hot</span>
</p><p>Well, Stark was certainly good for getting his blood up, so on the bright side at least Bucky had his irritation to help keep him warm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Secret

“Found something that should do the trick,” Bucky shouted. “Cave, nearby. Let’s go, before it gets worse.”

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but Iron Man seemed to hesitate before swinging Captain America up into his arms, saying, “Age before beauty,” and gesturing for Bucky to proceed.

“Y’know, biologically I’m only twenty-nine,” he felt the need to point out, clenching his jaw in an attempt to stop his teeth from chattering.

The armor was making one hell of a racket as Iron Man trudged along behind him, and Bucky prayed it held out until they got sheltered. No way would Tony abandon it, and with Steve temporarily out of commission it’d be a pain in the ass to drag along.

“Biology, schmiology,” Tony muttered.

Well, Stark was certainly good for getting his blood up, so on the bright side at least Bucky had his irritation to help keep him warm. Something about the guy just rubbed him the wrong way, which was probably why fate had decided to conspire in order to force them to work together.

“Shoulda gone with Tasha,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, like I suggested? I should be at home with a hot toddy,” the strangely digitized voice of Iron Man said from behind him. “Are we there yet?”

“Does it look like we’re there? Got ‘bout half a klick. Quit ‘yer yappin’ and keep movin’.”

There was a weird electronic titter that must’ve been a laugh, but Bucky ignored it. You were better off not giving people like Stark the satisfaction. He just had himself a little daydream about booting Iron Man off of the mountain they were currently stranded on, and using the flaming wreck of his armor to keep warm.

Before too long, they arrived, Bucky grateful for the light the suit was capable of giving off as they made their way out of the storm, and into the admittedly depressing, but better than nothing cave. At least it was dry.

“Home sweet home.”

+

Bucky checked on Steve for the hundredth time, but he was still out cold. Which, ha, yeah, not really funny, because Bucky was freezing his ass off, despite the fire Tony’d got going.

Annoying or no, Stark worked well in a crisis. They worked well together, actually, which was sort of surprising. For reasons he couldn’t explain, Bucky had assumed Tony was the type of rich boy who was worthless unless he could throw money at his problems, but there he was, sacrificing yet another chunk of the armor in order to build a makeshift communications array in order to let the team know where they were. He  _was_  Howard’s kid, after all, so it made sense, but still.

“I swear, Steve got himself accidentally doped up on purpose just to avoid dealin’ with the cold.”

“Bit oxymoronic,” Tony mumbled around the piece of suit in his mouth. “But wouldn’t put it past our Capsicle. He showing any signs of rousing?”

“Nope.” Bucky kicked a rock across the cave, noticing the way Stark jumped and cursed at the sound. “What’re you so squirrely about?”

Tony tensed up, and when he glanced over his shoulder, his expression was carefully neutral. “Stuff was Asgardian. He probably won’t be up for hours.”

Not answering the question, then. Interesting. Bucky didn’t think Stark had the same hang ups about the cold as him and Steve did, so maybe it was something else.

Bucky hunkered down near the fire, but it wasn’t doing him much good. He might have hated HYDRA, but he didn’t hate his arm, not most of the time, anyway. In the cold though? Being attached to a hunk of metal wasn’t exactly a blast.

“Think I could pop this in there?”

Tony looked up again. “Huh. I wouldn’t put it in the fire, but maybe closer to it. Might help. Guess that  _would_  suck heat.”

“Makes sleeping a bummer sometimes.”

Tony refocused on his tinkering, but after a moment asked, “Has Steve been complaining?”

Bucky looked at Steve, but he was still snoring away. “Huh?”

But Tony chose that moment to whoop victoriously, pumping his fist in the air. “Got it!”

“Nice work! How long til they get here?”

“Well, haven’t actually made contact yet. I’m just sending an emergency broadcast. Here’s hoping the good guys are the ones to answer.”

Tony hopped up, giving a little shiver as he shuffled over to the fire, eyes darting around nervously.

“Guess you’re a good guy to get stuck in a cave with.”

Tony went pale, his hand flying to his chest for a moment before it clenched into a fist, and rejoined the other hovering above the fire.

“What’d you mean before?” Bucky waited, but Tony wasn’t answering, so he tried again. “Stark, you listening?”

“What did I mean when? When I said taking this route was a bad idea? Or when I told Steve we should just fly back with the others? Or…”

Bucky hopped to his feet. “So this is my fault?”

Tony shrugged, his jaw working, as if he was fighting against the words that wanted to come. “Steve listens to you more than anyone else. If you’d just agreed with the logical choice…”

One minute he was standing there, the next he had Stark by the front of his shirt, but whatever he had planned was abandoned at the look of absolute fear momentarily visible in Stark’s eyes. Bucky let him go, shaken and confused.

“What the fuck is your problem? Why’re you tryin’ to pick a fight?”

Tony laughed, and smoothed down his shirt. “Maybe I just think the Brooklyn accent is sexy.” He smiled impishly. “It comes out when you’re pissed off. Very hot. Gimme some more.”

Bucky imagined his expression was something else, if Tony’s laughter was anything to go by, and unsure of how the hell he was meant to respond to  _that_ , he just joined in. Then it was Tony’s turn to look surprised.

“Well, stow it, pipsqueak. Steve’ll have my hide if he wakes up and finds out I clobbered you.”

Tony crouched back down near the fire. “Some people might want to give you a medal.”

There was definitely something off with Tony, that much was clear, but Bucky didn’t think asking about it would get him anywhere. He had an inkling though. It’d make sense, anyway.

“Seriously though. The crack about me sleeping with Steve. I hope you realize he wouldn’t do that.”

Tony’s brows drew together. “Wouldn’t…? Oh.  _Oh_! Is that why he’s been keeping it on the down low? You have a whole weird closeted self-hating thing going on, Barnes?”

“Are we actually speakin’ the same language?” Bucky snapped, staring at Tony. “He wouldn’t cheat on you is what I’m saying!”

But, well. That wasn’t the sort of reaction he’d expected. It wasn’t relief, that much was certain.

“Whoa, cheat on  _me_? How can he cheat on me when he’s with  _you_?”

Bucky’s mouth hung open. “Wait, so you’re not the person he’s with but doesn’t want to say anything about yet because he’s not sure where it’s going?”

Tony’s eyes widened even more somehow. “No, I thought  _you_  were!”

"No, no, we’re too much like brothers, it’d be weird.” Bucky rocked on his heels. “Huh, I thought for sure it was you. Damn. Who the hell is it then?”

“Fucked if I know,” Tony laughed. “My money was on you. Huh.” He cleared his throat. “But, ah, guys, that’s a thing you’re into?”

Bucky snorted. “What do you care?”

Tony scrubbed a hand through his hair, but didn’t answer the question. “The arm, I was thinking. A sleeve—uh, not fabric, mind you—something that counteracts the heat leaching aspects of the arm?”

“No,” Bucky snapped, and he felt bad that Tony’s expression darkened, but he couldn’t help himself.

Tony folded his hands behind his neck, then shifted, sliding them down, folding his arms across his chest, before bouncing back to his feet, and heading away from the warmth, closer to the armor.

Bucky argued with himself a moment, then caved. “It’s kinda tough for me. I… They weren’t exactly gentle, when working on it.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“Sure you do,” Bucky grumbled. He already regretted sharing. But…

But there was something in Tony’s posture, something In the way he gravitated toward the entrance of the cave, even though that meant moving away from the warmth.

“Sorry. I’m being a jerk. The cold and me, not the best of friends. Too many bad memories associated with it.”

Tony headed back his way, and Bucky was sort of surprised to see the genuine concern in his eyes. “This is going to sound like the beginning of a really lame porno, but we should probably snuggle up with Steve so we all conserve body heat.”

Bucky burst out laughing at Stark’s sheepish grin and the little waggle of his eyebrows, but said, “No, you’re right. How we wanna do this?”

+

“Marshmallows would be good right now,” Bucky sighed.

Tony wiggled a bit. “Mm. And hot chocolate.”

Steve just snored on blissfully.

They’d snuggled up together, Bucky’s arm on the side closest to the fire to help keep it from sucking his body heat, Steve sort of half draped over them so he wasn’t resting directly on the ground.

“Cap makes a pretty good blanket.”

Bucky snorted. “Heavy, though. Hey, at least he’ll be happy when he wakes up.”

“Why’s that?”

“We managed to work together, and neither of us has a black eye.”

Tony laughed. “Sorry, I’ve been sort of avoiding you up until now. Figured Cap wanted you all to himself.”

Bucky tightened his grip around Tony. “I wonder who it actually is?”

“He’ll tell us when he’s ready.” Tony yawned, and burrowed closer.

“You seem a little less jumpy,” Bucky pointed out. Tangled together the way they were, it was easy to feel how Tony tensed up at this. “Cold bother you, too?”

“No, I’m kind of grateful for it right now. Heat would be worse.”

So not the cold. “Is it the cave?”

“I sort of had a mandatory vacation in one a while ago. Nat can give you the rundown if you’re curious.”

Bucky grunted. “No thanks. Everyone but me has read my file. It’s… If you want to tell me about it sometime, that’s different. Happy to listen.”

Tony stared at him for a moment. “Did you want to read your file? I can get it for you.”

Bucky shook his head. “Nah. Just… It’s frustrating. Most people know more about me than  _I_ do. Seems like I should at least have one or two secrets, ya know? Sure I had some once upon a time, but those memories are long gone.”

Tony was quiet for a moment. “That actually makes a lot of sense to me.” He shifted around until they could see each other better. “You know, some of the best secrets are the ones you share with another person.”

Bucky opened his mouth, ready to ask what Tony was talking about, but then…

Then Tony kissed him. It was gentle, practically just the brushing of lips, something Bucky could easily put an end to. Tony’s eyes were open, dark and serious, and Bucky didn’t have to ask if Tony was playing games, or poking fun, because the answer was right there in his eyes.

Slowly, he leaned into the kiss, his heart accelerating in response when Tony made a soft noise of surprise. Brushing of lips, sharing of air, and it was too much and not enough. He tilted his head a bit, captured Tony’s upper lip, traced it with his tongue, and then,  _oh_. That changed everything, Tony’s eyelids fluttering as he pressed closer, and Bucky pushed his tongue into Tony’s mouth, stroked along Tony’s own, one or the other of them moaning.

They were twisted together, Steve a heavy weight atop them, still snoring and blissfully unaware as they grabbed at each other, the kiss turning deep and dirty, and that was just perfect.

Of course, that would be when they heard the noises from outside accompanied by Clint’s shout of, “Olly olly oxen free,” and separated hastily like a couple of naughty school kids.

They were breathing heavily, Bucky staring at Tony’s mouth, all pink and puffy and smiling a wicked little smile. He wanted to kiss him all over again.

“Our secret,” Tony said softly, disentangling himself from the snuggle in order to answer Clint. “In here, Legolas!”

+

After that being back at the Tower was interesting, to say the least. It wasn’t so much that they avoided each other as it was they dragged each other into secluded locations to make out like their lives depended on it,  _then_  avoided being in the same room with each other for days on end, until neither of them could take it anymore.

At first, anyway. But something changed, and the avoiding ended, so that they spent as much time together as possible while still keeping their relationship secret.

He’d head down to the workshop and let Tony tinker with the arm, let him make the sleeve for when the metal was too cold, able to move past his conditioned fear response mostly because Tony used this time to talk about his experiences in Afghanistan, and the wormhole, and how weirdly conflicted he felt about missing the arc reactor.

But other times he’d stalk down to the workshop, and one look at him had Tony putting the floor into lockdown, so they could go at each other like animals.

Bucky had some fond memories of his sex life from before, but was almost positive he’d _never_  been so enthusiastically fucked. Tony was anything but shy, was inventive and attentive and everything you could ask for in a lover, and Bucky couldn’t get enough of him.

Tony was as happy to give as he was to receive, was just as interested in curling up and relaxing together as he was in sucking Bucky’s dick, which was a gift, really.

“Is this just a sex thing?” Bucky asked one afternoon, once he’d caught his breath.

Tony propped himself up so Bucky could see his eyes. “It’s a whatever you want it to be thing. I’m not having sex with anyone else, I’m sure as shit not snuggling with anyone else, or interested in…”

“I want it to be a more than sex thing,” Bucky interrupted. Tony smiled at this. “But I’m enjoying the secret aspect still. Not because I’m ashamed, just… Is that okay?”

“Whatever you need,” Tony assured him, snuggling back down against Bucky’s chest. “I’m happy as long as I’ve got you.”

Just the sight of him made Bucky’s blood boil. Half the time they hardly made it entirely out of their clothes, like the time he’d dragged Tony into a storage closet on the helicarrier, and they’d kissed, and kissed, swallowing each other’s moans of pleasure as they stroked and rubbed against each other until coming their brains out.

Sitting opposite Tony in the debriefing after that little encounter had been amusing, and thrilling. They didn’t talk, avoided eye contact, and the entire time Steve had lectured him afterwards about giving Tony a chance, Bucky had still had the taste of Tony on his tongue.

“You’d  _like_  each other,” Steve insisted. “I don’t get why you’re both acting like stubborn idiots. I oughta lock you in a cell together until you work out whatever it is you’ve got against each other.”

Bucky’s libido liked the sound of that very much. They could have a lot of fun together in a cell.

+

Bucky woke with a start, relaxing once he realized the person sneaking into the room was Tony.

"Sorry,” Tony murmured as he crawled under the covers.

“Hmm, I missed you. What took so long?” Bucky asked, curling around the warm body now sharing his space, nestling his face between Tony’s shoulder blades.

“Missed you, too,” Tony answered, yawning. “Had to wait ‘til Steve was asleep before sneaking in.”

Bucky pressed a kiss to the nape of Tony’s neck. It’d been months and months, and Tony hadn’t complained once, had allowed Bucky to dictate the terms of their relationship. Sure, having a secret was still sexy, but…

But he thought of Steve shyly introducing Carol to the group, and how she’d since become a regular attendee of movie night.

Bucky spent his movie nights with one or two people between him and Tony so he wouldn’t accidentally blow their cover by pressing a kiss to Tony’s jaw, or wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

He tightened his grip on Tony, snuggled closer, and pondered.

+

“It was unnecessarily risky,” Bucky shouted, storming after Tony. “You coulda been killed!”

“I had it under control,” Tony insisted, whirling to face Bucky, “and it was Cap’s plan, not mine, so yell at  _him_  if you have a problem.”

Steve groaned, holding his hands up. “Tony’s right, it was my call, and…”

Bucky turned. “Well yer call was dumb! He almost got flattened like a pancake!”

"Hey, alright, just…” Tony made a move like he might place a comforting hand on Bucky’s arm, but he caught himself, pulling away. “It looked worse than it was. JARVIS and I ran the numbers.”

Bucky stared at him, his heart hammering in his ears. He understood what Tony wasn’t saying, which was that he wouldn’t just risk his life for no reason, which was reassuring, but still. Bucky wanted to kiss him, wanted to touch him everywhere to make sure he wasn’t actually hurt, and suddenly keeping this particular secret felt oppressive and awful.

“Bucky, Tony, for the sake of the team, I need you two to… Whoa!” Steve jumped in shock, reaching for Bucky as he lunged for Tony, until he realized they weren’t about to fight, they were…

Tony made a wonderful needy sound when Bucky kissed him, buried his hands in Bucky’s hair, and held on, kissing back.

Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony, half lifting him off the ground, before they pulled apart. “Heads up would be nice next time,” Bucky growled. “You scared the hell outa me!”

“Mm, there’s that Brooklyn accent.”

Tony winked, and Bucky reached for him again, until there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. “Seriously. This entire time?”

“Sorry, Stevie,” Bucky tried to sound apologetic, but failed miserably.

Steve was rubbing his temples. “All the lectures, and… and Sam’s Better Team Dynamics puppet show, and you were—are—whatever this is?”

Tony looked far more abashed than Bucky felt. “Sorry, Cap, he just needed something all for himself, and so,” he made a little gesture between the two of them. “The puppet show was great, though, really inspiring.”

“You two knuckleheads deserve each other,” Steve declared, raising his hands in defeat and walking away. “Congratulations, by the way. Also, told you so.”

“Thanks, Steve!”

They watched him go, and then Bucky looked to Tony, found himself being watched, a goofy, pleased smile on the engineer’s face. “Sorry I just outed us.”

“No, no, that was great,” Tony swore, smile growing wider. “I’m just trying to think of what our new shared secret can be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Secret lovers~! Mm. Surprise, Steve, we get along just fine!!


End file.
